1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hollow foamed polyolefin-based resin container having a hollow portion in at least its side wall part that can be used as containers for retorted food products and other containers, and to a process for producing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Although polystyrene foam has hitherto been used as containers for food products such as retorted food products, noodles in cup and soup in cup, the use of polypropylene-based foam has been studied in recent years. These containers for food products are required to have, for example, improved heat retaining property and heat insulation property that enable the containers to be touched by hands even when their contents are heated to high temperatures.
Containers for food products composed of polystyrene foam or polyolefin-based resin foam are generally produced by vacuum- or pressure-forming foamed resin sheets. Containers made of foamed polyolefin-based resin are disclosed in Japanese Patent Kokai Publication Nos. 9-226851 and 11-34251.
All the above-mentioned known foamed polyolefin-based resin containers, however, have only one resin layer constituting the containers and do not satisfy the requirement about heat retaining property, heat insulation property and the like enough. Neither process for producing a hollow foamed resin container nor process for producing a plurality of hollow foamed resin containers at the same time through a series of steps is disclosed in these publications.
The object of the present invention is to provide a hollow foamed polyolefin-based resin container having a hollow portion in at least its side wall part that can fully meet requests for heat retaining property, heat insulation property and the like even when it is used as containers for retorted food products and the other containers, and to provide a process for producing the same.
The hollow foamed resin container of the present invention is characterized by being a hollow polyolefin-based resin container comprising an inner layer and an outer layer, at least one of the inner and outer layers being formed of a foamed polyolefin-based resin sheet, wherein at least a side wall part of the container has a hollow portion between the inner and outer layers.
The above-mentioned hollow foamed polyolefin-based resin container may be produced by the vacuum-forming using a pair of mold members fittable each other including a male mold member having a configuration of the inner surface of the container and a female mold member having a configuration of the outer surface of the container and accompanying a forming processing in which a (plane) resin sheet for forming the inner layer is made to firmly touch the outer surface of the male mold member and a (plane) resin sheet for forming the outer layer is made to firmly touch the inner surface of the female mold member.
The hollow portion that is formed in the side wall part of a container may be one formed throughout the entire side wall part or one partly formed in the side part. Moreover, a structure having many hollow portions partitioned by ribs may be also possible. A hollow portion may be formed in the bottom part of a container.
In the hollow foamed polyolefin-based resin container of the present invention, it is preferable that the resin forming the foamed layer has an expansion ratio of from 1.5 to 8 times and a thickness of not greater than 6 mm and a draw ratio [(the height of the container)/(the minimum dimension of an opening of the container)] of the container of from 0.6 to 1.5. Such a container was difficult to be produced by the conventional techniques, particularly by vacuum- or pressure-forming accompanying forming processing when foamed polyolefin-based resin is used.
The minimum dimension of an opening of a container means, for example, the diameter of the opening in the case where the configuration of the opening of the container is a circle, the dimension of each side of the opening in the case where the opening is a square, the dimension of a shorter side in the case where the opening is a rectangle, and a distance between the opposite sides in the case where the opening is a regular hexagon.
It is desirable that the foamed polyolefin-based resin sheet to be used in the hollow foamed polyolefin-based resin container of the present invention has a non-foamed polyolefin-based resin layer having a thickness of from 5 to 100 xcexcm on one side of the foamed layer. Furthermore, it is more desirable that the foamed polyolefin-based resin sheet to be used in the hollow foamed polyolefin-based resin container of the present invention has a non-foamed polyolefin-based resin layer having a thickness of from 5 to 100 xcexcm on each side of the foamed layer.
Moreover, it is desirable that the foamed polyolefin-based resin sheet to be used in the present invention is a sheet in which at least two layers are laminatesd wherein each of the layers is composed of a three-layer structure of non-foamed polyolefin-based resin layer (non-foamed layer)/foamed polyolefin-based resin layer (foamed layer)/non-foamed polyolefin-based resin layer (non-foamed layer). In particular, it is more desirable that the foamed polyolefin-based resin sheet to be used in the present invention is a sheet in which at least two layers of the aforementioned three-layer structured foamed polyolefin-based resin sheets are laminated, namely having at least five-layer structure of non-foamed layer/foamed layer/non-foamed layer/foamed layer/non-foamed layer.
The use of the foamed polyolefin-based resin sheet in which a non-foamed polyolefin-based resin layer is laminated improves the vacuum-formability of a hollow foamed polyolefin-based resin container. Particularly, the deeply drawing property is improved and a foamed polyolefin-based resin container having a draw ratio of not less than 0.6, which has heretofore been said difficult to be obtained, can be produced easily in a low proportion defective.
The non-foamed layer in the foamed polyolefin-based resin sheet is desirably formed of a polyolefin-based resin having a long-chain branch.
By designing the foamed polyolefin-based resin sheet to be such a laminated foam using the polyolefin-based resin having a long-chain branch as a non-foamed layer, the strength of the original resin sheet as a raw material in a heated and softened state is enhanced and the vacuum- or pressure-formability of hollow foamed polyolefin-based resin container is improved.
It is desirable that the polyolefin-based resin has a branching index [A] satisfying 0.20xe2x89xa6[A]xe2x89xa60.98.
The polyolefin-based resin which has a branching index [A] satisfying 0.20xe2x89xa6[A]xe2x89xa60.98 has especially high strength in its molten state among polyolefin-based resins. Providing such a non-foamed resin layer as a surface layer may give an effect of preventing the generation of unevenness caused by cells formed in the internal foamed layer by a foaming agent or caused by breakage of cells. This may result in a multi-layer foamed polyolefin-based resin sheet having high surface smoothness and superior secondary processabilities such as vacuum-formability. This also improves the vacuum- or pressure-formability of hollow containers, particularly the formability in multiple-piece production.
In the case where the branching index of the polyolefin-based resin having a lomg-chain branch is out of the aforementioned range, a melt viscosity decreases and the formability of hollow containers also deteriorates.
The branching index expresses the degree of long-chain branching and is a value defined by the following formula:
Branching index [A]=[xcex7]Br/[xcex7]Lin 
In the formula, [xcex7]Br is the intrinsic viscosity of a branched polyolefin and [xcex7]Lin is the intrinsic viscosity of a semicrystalline linear polyolefin, which is mainly isotactic, having a weight average molecular weight substantially equal to that of the branched polyolefin.
An intrinsic viscosity is also known as an limiting viscosity number and is a measure of the ability of a polymer molecule to increase a viscosity of a solution in its general meaning. The intrinsic viscosity depends on the size and the configuration of the polymer molecule to be dissolved. Therefore, in comparison of a non-linear polymer and a linear polymer having a weight average molecular weight equal to that of the non-linear polymer, the intrinsic viscosity is a value indicating the configuration of the non-linear polymer molecule. That is, the foregoing ratio of the intrinsic viscosities is the measure of the degree of branching of the non-linear polymer and is defined as a branching index. A method for measuring the intrinsic viscosities of the polypropylene having a long-chain branch and the polyolefin-based resin having a long-chain branch are disclosed in J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 14, 2947-2963 (1970), Elliot et al
The weight average molecular weight (Mw) may be measured by various methods. Methods desirably used are the GPC method and the method that was published by M. L. McConnel in American Laboratory, May, 63-75 (1978), that is, the low-angle laser light scattering photometry.
In the production process of the foamed polyolefin-based resin container of the present invention, it is desirable that the foamed polyolefin-based resin sheet to be used as an original sheet (a raw material) further comprises at least one gas barrier layer.
The gas barrier layer is a resin layer having an action of inhibiting the permeation of moisture or oxygen and is effective to secure a preservation term of food products preserved in the container produced.
The thickness of the foamed polyolefin-based resin sheet, that is the original sheet as a raw material for forming the hollow foamed polyolefin-based container, is desirably not less than 0.5 mm. The thickness of the foamed polyolefin-based resin sheet refers to a thickness of a foamed polyolefin-based resin sheet having a three-layer structure when this type of sheet is used, or to a total thickness when a foamed polyolefin-based resin sheet having more layers is used. Such an original resin sheet as a raw material may be produced by known methods such as co-extrusion using extruders.
The process for producing a hollow foamed polyolefin-based resin container of the present invention is characterized by producing a hollow foamed polyolefin-based resin container comprising an inner layer and an outer layer, at least one of the inner and outer layers being formed of a foamed polyolefin-based resin sheet, wherein at least a side wall part of the container has a hollow portion between the inner and outer layers, using a female mold member having an outer surface configuration of a container and a male mold member having an inner surface configuration of the container, and comprising:
(1) heating and softening an original resin sheet (as a raw material) while clipping and fixing the periphery of the original resin sheet with a clip, the original resin sheet being either (a) a resin sheet in which two resin sheets including a resin sheet for forming the inner layer and a resin sheet for forming the outer layer are laminated one on another wherein both of two resin sheets are formed of polyolefin-based resin and at least one of two resin sheets is a foamed polyolefin-based resin sheet or (b) a resin sheet in which two resin sheets including a resin sheet for forming the inner layer and a resin sheet for forming the outer layer are separably laminated wherein both of two resin sheets are formed of polyolefin-based resin and at least one of two resin sheets is a foamed polyolefin-based resin sheet, (hereinafter it is also referred to as a heating step) and
(2) installing the male mold member and the female mold member in the opposite sides relative to the heated and softened original resin sheet, relatively moving the male and female mold members to fit them through the heated and softened original resin sheet, rendering both a gap between the female mold member and the heated and softened original resin sheet and a gap between the male mold member and the heated and softened original resin sheet of reduced pressure, thereby making the resin sheet for forming the inner layer closely touch the surface of the male mold member and the resin sheet for forming the outer layer closely touch the surface of the female mold member to form a hollow portion and to form the heated and softened original resin sheet into a shape of container; (hereinafetr it is also referred to as a releasing step) and
(3) taking out the product formed into the shape of the container. (it is also referred to as a releasing step)
By the above-mentioned process, a hollow foamed polyolefin-based resin container having a hollow portion in at least its side wall part can be easily produced. The use of plural pairs of male and female mold members renders multiple-pieces production of hollow foamed resin containers possible to be produce at the same time through a series of steps.
The male and female mold members are only required that at least one of them can be moved to fit together to form a cavity for forming a container. Alternatively, both of them may be moved.
The above-mentioned process for producing a hollow foamed polyolefin-based resin container of the present invention is characterized by further comprising (4), after the heating step (1), generating a pressure difference between both sides of the heated and softened original resin sheet to expand the heated and softened original resin sheet so as to project toward the lower pressure side, wherein the forming step (2) is made (2xe2x80x2) a forming step comprising installing the male mold member and the female mold member in the opposite sides relative to the heated and softened original resin sheet so that the male mold member is located in the lower pressure side, moving the male mold member relatively toward the female mold member while making the male mold member touch the heated and softened original resin sheet from its projecting side, thereby making the male mold member fit to the female mold member, rendering both a gap between the female mold member and the heated and softened original resin sheet and a gap between the male mold member and the heated and softened original resin sheet of reduced pressure, thereby making the resin sheet for forming the inner layer closely touch the surface of the male mold member and making the resin sheet for forming the outer layer closely touch the surface of the female mold member to form a hollow portion and to form the heated and softened original resin sheet into a shape of container.
In such a way, a hollow foamed polyolefin-based resin container having a draw ratio of from 0.6 to 1.5 can be easily produced.
In general, when producing resin containers by vacuum- or pressure-forming, as disclosed in aforementioned Japanese Patent Kokai Publication Nos. 9-226851 and 11-34251, containers are formed by heating and softening a resin sheet to make it touch an edge of an opening of a female mold member and sucking the sheet toward the female mold member to stretch it to touch and cover the surface of the female mold member. In the course of such operations, the part of the original resin sheet to constitute the edge of a container is applied with a stress that stretches the original resin sheet in the direction toward the side wall part while touching the edge of the female mold member concurrently with the suction of the parts for forming the side wall part and the bottom part of a container.
In the case of vacuum-forming a foamed polyolefin-based resin, there is a formability problem being more serious than that with polystyrene foam. Since polystyrene resin is a glassy resin, its physical strength decreases slowly as its temperature rises in the vicinity of temperatures at which the resin can be formed and the strength of the resin at the time of its forming is therefore relatively high. For such reasons, in the case of forming with stretching, the forming can be easily conducted even though the polystyrene foam sheet receives such a stress in its part for constituting the edge of a container that the part is stretched toward the container-forming parts adjacent to that part. In contrast, since polyolefin-based resin is a crystalline resin, its physical strength suddenly decreases with its temperature rises in the vicinity of temperatures at which the resin can be formed.
In other words, the most serious problem that arises in the course of the vacuum-forming of a foamed polyolefin-based resin sheet using, for example, a female mold member is that since the foamed polyolefin-based resin sheet has only insufficient strength in its softened state, when the foamed polyolefin-based resin sheet is stretched to enter the inside of a female mold member, the foamed polyolefin-based resin sheet does not have sufficient strength to slide itself at the flange of the opening of the female mold member, and therefore, the foamed polyolefin-based resin sheet is stretched only in its non-touching part into the female mold member cavity while being fixed in its edge. As a result, local stretching occurs in the foamed polyolefin-based resin sheet and the foamed polyolefin-based resin sheet itself or cells in the foam break results in defects in products and high proportion defective. Therefore, such a method is hard to be called a practical forming method.
In the present invention, the heated and softened original resin sheet is uniformly expanded to be stretched by the generation of pressure difference between both sides of the heated and softened original resin sheet in expanding step (4), and then forming step (2xe2x80x2) is conducted. In the forming step (2xe2x80x2), the male mold member having a configuration of a container is made to touch the heated and softened original resin sheet gradually from its tip part to the entire part with approaching from the projecting side of the heated and softened original resin sheet. At the same time, the male mold member is moved toward the female mold member, thereby making the aforementioned original resin sheet as a raw material fitted with the female mold member. Both the gap between the female mold member and the heated and softened original resin sheet and the gap between the male mold member and the heated and softened original resin sheet are vacuumed, thereby making the resin sheet for forming the inner layer closely touch the surface of the male mold member and making the resin sheet for forming the outer layer closely touch the surface of the female mold member to form a hollow portion and to form the heated and softened original resin sheet into a shape of container. By conducting such a way, a hollow container can be produced by vacuum-forming without suffering from any local stretching since forming is done under the conditions where a heated and softened foamed polyolefin-based resin sheet having a low strength is preliminarily stretched to some extent.
It is necessary that at least one of the resin sheet for forming the inner layer and that for forming the outer layer to be used as original resin sheets is a foamed polyolefin-based resin sheet. Both of them may be either the same or different although it is necessary that both of them are formed of polyolefin-based resin. xe2x80x9cBeing separably laminatedxe2x80x9d means to be formed in the form of a single layer as an original sheet by means of adhesion, thermal welding or the like, but to be constituted so as to separate to form a hollow portion in the forming step. In addition, xe2x80x9cbeing laminated one on anotherxe2x80x9d means being used as an original resin sheet in a state where the resin sheet for forming the inner layer and that for forming the outer layer are merely piled.
It is a desirable embodiment that a proper air flow hole is provided in order to easily form a hollow portion between the resin sheet for forming the inner layer and the resin sheet for the outer layer in the forming step.
Moreover, the process for producing a plurality of a hollow foamed polyolefin-based resin containers of the present invention is characterized by producing a plurality of a hollow foamed polyolefin-based resin container comprising an inner and an outer layer, at least one of the inner and outer layers being formed of a foamed polyolefin-based resin sheet, wherein at least a side wall part of the container has a hollow portion between the inner and outer layers, using a female mold member having an outer surface configuration of a container and a male mold member having an inner surface configuration of the container, and comprising:
(5) heating and softening an original resin sheet while clipping and fixing the periphery of the original resin sheet with a clip, the original resin sheet being either (a) a resin sheet in which two resin sheets including a resin sheet for forming the inner layer and a resin sheet for forming the outer layer are laminated one on another wherein both of the two resin sheets are formed of polyolefin-based resin and at least one of the two resin sheet is a foamed polyolefin-based resin sheet or (b) a resin sheet in which two resin sheets including a resin sheet for forming the inner layer and a resin sheet for forming the outer layer are separably laminated wherein both of the two resin sheets are formed of polyolefin-based resin and at least one of the two resin sheet is a foamed polyolefin-based resin sheet, (hereinafter it is also referred to as a heating step) and
(6) making a partitioning member touch or almost touch the heated and softened original resin sheet to define container-forming areas, (hereinafter it si also referred to as a partitioning step)
(7) generating a pressure difference between both sides of the heated and softened original resin sheet so that the side where the partitioning member is present become the lower pressure side, making the heated and softened original resin sheet firmly touch the partitioning member, and projecting the heated and softened original resin sheet toward the lower pressure side in every container-forming area, (hereinafter it is also referred to as an expanding step)
(8) installing the male mold member and the female mold member in the opposite sides relative to the heated and softened original resin sheet so that the male mold member is located in the lower pressure side, moving the male relatively toward the female mold member while making the male mold member touch the heated and softened original resin sheet from its projecting side, thereby making the male mold member fit to the female mold member, rendering both a gap between the female mold member and the heated and softened original resin sheet and a gap between the male mold member and the heated and softened original resin sheet of reduced pressure, thereby making the resin sheet for forming the inner layer closely touch the surface of the male mold member and making the resin sheet for forming the outer layer closely touch the surface of the female mold member to form a hollow portion and to form the heated and softened original resin sheet into a shape of container, (hereinafter it is also referred to as a forming step)
(9) taking out the product formed into the shape of the container. (hereinafter it is also referred to as a releasing step)
By the production process of such a constitution, it becomes possible to produce a plurality of hollow foamed polyolefin-based resin containers using a foamed polyolefin-based resin sheet therein at the same time in a low proportion defective even when producing, in particular, a hollow foamed polyolefin-based rersin container having a draw ratio of not less than 0.6 through a series of steps in multiple-piece production.
In the partitioning step (6), in the case where the partitioning member touches the original resin sheet, the container-forming areas are defined by the touching surface, or in the case where the portioning member almost touches the foamed sheet, the container-forming areas are defined at the time when the partitioning member firmly touches the original resin sheet for the first time when the expansion is commenced in the expanding step (7).
It is a desirable embodiment that a trimming step of cutting away an excess part of the original resin sheet the edge of the container in the releasing step (9).
It is a desirable embodiment that the partitioning member is such a base body having a rib standing thereon, wherein the end surface of the rib touches the heated and softened original resin sheet to define the container-forming area (a rib type), and wherein the side where the partitioning member touches the heated and softened original resin sheet is set to be the lower pressure side. In addition, it is also a desirable embodiment that the partitioning member is a frame body which defiones the aforementioned container-forming areas cavities, wherein the frame body touches the heated and softened original resin sheet to define the container-forming areas (a frame type), and wherein the side where the partitioning member touches the heated and softened resin sheet is set to be the lower pressure side.
In any case, many container-forming areas can be easily formed in one foamed polyolefin-based resin sheet.
When the frame body is used as the partitioning member, since the thickness of the frame body is thinner than that of a rib-type, it may be also possible to make the frame body touch the heated and softened original resin sheet to form the container-forming areas and then move a heater forward to heat. In this case, it is also a desirable embodiment that a cooling liquid is passed in the frame body in order to prevent the temperature of the frame body from rising in repeated forming. Moreover, the frame body is preferably constituted in such a manner that the frame is equipped with a proper arm so that the frame moves through the action of the arm.
When the partitioning member is the frame body, it is another desirable embodiment that the frame body is fixed to or integrated with the clip instead of the above-mentined constitution of equipping the arm. In the case of such a modified constitution, the partitioning step of forming the container-forming areas is conducted at the same time the original resin sheet is clipped and fixed.
The use of the partitioning member allows the original resin sheet to be partitioned into container-forming areas and to be formed into a configuration of containers after being preliminarily stretched uniformly.
In the above-mentioned expanding step (4) or (7), it is preferable to vacuum in one side relative to the heated and softened original resin sheet while keeping at atmospheric pressure in the other side. A pressure difference can be easily adjusted by vaccuming, and therefore, vaccuming can achieve nice adjustment of the projecting height of the heated and softened original resin sheet with higher accuracy than pressurizing does.
In the above-mentioned expanding step, it is preferable that the projecting height of the heated and softened original resin sheet (the height from the clipping level by the clip) is set to be 50% or more, preferably from 70 to 100%, of the height of the container.
Setting the projecting height of the foamed polyolefin-based resin sheet to be 50% or more of the height of the container can control the local stretching of the sheet that especially appears in the part of a resin sheet which forms the side wall part of a container during forming. It also allows a hollow foamed polyolefin-based resin container, particularly a hollow foamed polyolefin-based resin container having a draw ratio of not less than 0.6 or more, to be produced more easily through a series of steps in a lower proportion defective. By such a manner, it becomes possible to produce a plurality of hollow foamed polyolefin-based resin containers at the same time.
Further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. However, it should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.
Throughout this specification and the claims which follow, unless the context requires otherwise, the word xe2x80x9ccomprisexe2x80x9d, and variations such as xe2x80x9ccomprisesxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9ccomprisingxe2x80x9d, will be understood to imply the inclusion of a stated integer or step or group of integers or steps but not the exclusion of any other integer or step or group of integer or step.